When Camille Baldassar moved to New Orleans, she had no interest in Mardi Gras.

Courtesy of Members of the Pussyfooters Marching Club must be at least 30 years old, nonjudgmental, supportive, and willing to dance with joy.

"I had just seen it on TV, and I thought it was stupid," she says.

But the next year, her neighbor told her, "We're going to show you what it's about."

And as she watched high school girls dancing down the street in the Krewe of Thoth parade, she thought, "Wow, that's great!"

She was in her mid-30s, but she was in New Orleans. She decided it wasn't too late for her to dance down the street. She started asking her friends if they'd be interested in forming a marching club. When several said yes, she started making a list. They had a meeting the following September, held practices, made costumes, and contacted Muses. And the Pussyfooters Marching Club was born.

"We just made it happen," Baldassar says.

Being from Pittsburgh, she had no experience with dressing up and letting go.

"I didn't have a costume closet," she says. "I had never performed before."

But she managed to evolve.

She and her fellow Pussyfooters learned a lot the first year they marched in the Krewe of Muses parade.

"We just showed up," she says. "We kept having to find places on St. Charles Avenue to use the bathroom."

Now, they have a trailer with facilities. They also have loyal male handlers, who have marched with them from the beginning. They help control the crowd and keep the dancers hydrated.

"I don't know how we knew we needed them, but we did," Baldassar says. "That first year, they'd run into a bar and come out with five or six margaritas."

The marching club came up with one rule: Members had to be at least 30. But they also came up with a philosophy. Each one was a "shiny diamond" in her own way. They could be different sizes. They could come from different backgrounds. They were teachers, scientists, lawyers, accountants and stay-at-home moms, not professional dancers. They would be non-judgmental and supportive, and they would dance with joy.

When I ask Baldassar to tell me the best thing about being a Pussyfooter, she has two answers.

"There's that moment when you're in the parade and people come out and dance with you. I love that," she says. "The big picture thing, though, is that from day one, our mission has been to support women and women's organizations."

This Carnival season marks the 10th anniversary of the Pussyfooters, and they wanted to do something special. The goal of their Blush Ball 2011: Party with a Purpose is to raise $10,000 for the Metropolitan Center for Women and Children.

Metro seems like a perfect match. Its goal is to "break the cycle of domestic violence and aid survivors of sexual assault through advocacy, intervention, empowerment and transformation." Metro's services include a crisis line, counseling, shelter, legal advocacy and medical care.

"That's where we really focus our energy in terms of fund-raising," Baldassar says. "In the past, we've raised a couple of thousand dollars for them, and we realized, 'We should be handing these ladies a check for $10,000.'

Larisa Gray, a longtime member of the Pussyfooters, is chair for the Blush Ball, which will be at the Howlin' Wolf on Jan. 29.

"This is our 10th year, and we've sort of grown up," she says. "We're really focused on our service mission, which is empowering women."

They're also focused on having fun at the ball, and Big Sam's Funky Nation, DJ Brice Nice, the Firefighters of New Orleans, and those wild 610 Stompers will help them do that.

They welcome women who might not be up to dancing down St. Charles Avenue in majorette boots to join them. Who knows what might happen?

"We march for women who feel shy and reserved, who can't release their inner Pussyfooter," Gray says.

The name of the ball comes from their signature color.

"We were the first women to adopt a kind of cotton-candy pink," Gray says. "There's a little devilish double meaning of the words, too." (From women who call themselves the Pussyfooters, that's to be expected.)

They hope to sell 800 tickets to the party.

"That will get us to our goal," she says.

In addition to having fun and dancing the night away, revelers will also have a chance to win one of 60 raffle prizes.

Gray thinks marching with Muses and in several neighborhood parades is "a blast."

"I don't know that we're nearly as convincing as those 15-year-old girls, but we sure have fun trying to keep up with them," she says.

And there is more to the Pussyfooters than dancing.

"This year, we want to claim our place as a service organization," she says. "We're not just party girls for the parade."

Blush Ball 2011: Party with a Purpose, featuring Big Sam's Funky Nation, DJ Brice Nice, the 610 Stompers, the Pussyfooters, plus a Firehouse Cook-off by the Firefighters of New Orleans will be Jan. 29 from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the Howlin' Wolf, 907 South Peters St. There will be a cash bar. Tickets are $30 in advance if purchased from a Pussyfooter and $35 at the door. They can also be purchased at the Howlin' Wolf Box Office, the Howlin' Wolf or the Pussyfooters. To avoid a service charge, e-mail blushball@gmail.com or go to the Pussyfooters Facebook page and request tickets.

Sheila Stroup's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in Living. Contact her at sstroup@timespicayune.com or 985.898.4831.